After what appears as a 5-wave rally; a correction lower would make sense.  But, it also appears a new bull trend may be underway. 

….also from Jack Crooks:

Don’t Bury The Buck Just Yet

Kim Jung-un in North Korea is refusing to blink yet he maybe. He has turned domestically first in the ongoing crisis and has now announced a massive army recruitment program. An article in a Pyongyang-based propaganda newspaper today declared already more than 3.5 million people had signed up to fight. The newspaper is claiming that millions were “volunteers” including students and former soldiers.

The truth is that the North Korean army is subjected to absolute obedience to the Kim dynasty. If civilians are scrambling to volunteer, it is also likely that they are malnourished and desperate civilians. Yet this peals back the fact that Kim is blinking.

His latest claim that 3.47 million people had asked to enlist in the army since the North Korean crisis began, is shifting his power achievement away from missiles and to people. Even their currency reflect the old communist subservient duty to the state. The man holds his Marxist bible and the woman is gathering wheat in the fields. This may have the impact of worsening the economy if true for feeding that many more soldiers is impossible for his regime without reducing rations for the current army soldier.

The real crisis brewing is that Kim has indeed raised the stakes, but once you achieve that goal of a nuclear power, what next to demonstrate he is strong and in control? Kim is pounding his chest because CNN and Democrats like Ellison have taken his side against Trump. He is showing this to people to demonstrate Trump does not have the support of his people as does Kim. This only emboldens him and makes him feel powerful. There nobody in the industrialized world over 25 who does not know at least his face by now.

Now trying to raise his army strength, is a diversion for his people. The USA would never launch an invasion. Therefore, he is shifting his power impression from nukes, he cannot win, to boots on the ground. This is trying to pretend he is backed and loved by the people – highly unlikely.

He cannot win a war of nukes and so he seems to be turning to sheer manpower, or should I say humanpower since 50% of his army is women. An army that is not truly loyal will not really fight and once the first shots are fired, they tend to fall apart historically.

…also from Martin:

The Civil Unrest in Charlottesville is Part of the Cycle into 2020

Oil investors have grown more optimistic as of late, as oil prices have moved back to $50 per barrel. The market appears to be on sounder footing, suggesting that things will gradually tighten for the rest of the year. But it is unclear how far oil prices can really move above today’s position.

Hedge funds and other money managers have begun buying up long positions on oil futures, a sign of growing bullishness. Reuters analyst John Kemp argues that the positioning of hedge funds has entered the third bullish phase of 2017, after two previous cycles ran their course earlier this year.

In fact, the most recent data saw the largest weekly increase in net-long positions so far this year, and interestingly, Kemp points out that the net-long build is due to new long positions, rather than simply just a reduction of shorts. 

…continue reading HERE

Policy across the U.S. is changing fast since the election of President Trump. And natural resource companies have already begun to benefit from the shift.

Now two more major measures have just come down — which could open big opportunities for mining and energy in the U.S.

The Department of Interior yesterday unveiled a raft of new policies. One of the biggest being a rollback of Obama-era regulations put in to protect wildlife.

Specifically, the sage grouse. A bird that resides in several prime mining and petroleum jurisdictions — particularly in western U.S. states such as Nevada.

The Obama administration had brought in federal protection for the sage grouse. Including strict rules on land use in areas where the bird resides — which had threatened to withdraw large tracts of land from mineral development and oil and gas drilling. 

But the Department of Interior has now directed that several changes be made to that legislation. With officials saying the revised rules will attempt to strike a balance between preservation and economic opportunities. 

The biggest change will be allowing state agencies to grant exemptions to the federal legislation. Which could allow local lawmakers to approve extractive activities in places that would have previously been off limits. 

And that wasn’t the only big change made by Interior. With officials also also reversing another Obama administration policy — one that had reformed royalties paid by coal and petroleum developers on federal lands across the U.S.

The revised rules had closed loopholes that critics say resource firms were using to dodge tax payments. But industry had complained that the new measures were unnecessarily complex, impeding development of new projects. 

Those rules will now be rendered void — with the royalty system reverting to the old regime as of early September. Watch for all of these shifts to help spur project activity across America, particularly in the coal sector — which should now see improved profitability.

Here’s to the times a-changing,

Dave Forest
dforest@piercepoints.com

Below you can see that commercial hedgers in the crude oil market are back at one of the highest net short positions in history.

….view charts HERE

also from King World:

Greenspan, Stagflation And What It Means For Commodities, Gold & Silver